We coherently probe a quantum dot that is strongly coupled to a photonic crystal nano-cavity by scattering of a resonant laser beam. The coupled system’s response is highly nonlinear as the quantum dot saturates with nearly one photon per cavity lifetime. This system enables large amplitude and phase shifts of a signal beam via a control beam, both at single photon levels. We demonstrate photon...

The interaction of light with nano-scale features is usually associated with rigorous vector modeling or other computation intensive method. It turns out, however, that several interesting cases can be analyzed by a model based on scalar, paraxial operators. Good correspondence was found between this theoretical model and experimental investigation. In our work, the capabilities of scalar, para...

Direct write nanolithographic techniques are powerful techniques to fabricate masters for nano-imprint lithography (NIL). Proton beam writing (PBW) is a relatively new technique which has shown great potential in fabricating three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures in polymer resist material down to the 20 nm level. MeV protons generate secondary electrons and like in many lithographic processes t...

As an important component of the solid electrolyte interface in lithium ion batteries and an effective blanket breeding material in fusion reactor, the mechanical property of Li(2)O is of great interest but is not well understood. Here we show that the polycrystalline Li(2)O nanowires were formed in situ by touching and pulling lithium hydroxide under electron beam (e-beam) illumination. The Li...

1500 copies of this issue have been printed. This E-Nano newsletter issue is dedicated to present a review on Non-Contact AFM (NC-AFM) and therefore to provide a better understanding on how to image individual molecules, nanostructures, etc. on surfaces with this technique. Patterning of materials on the nanoscale is currently one of the major challenges for Nanotechnology. The research report ...

The nano-scale structure of cytoskeletal biopolymers as well as sophisticated superstructures determine the versatile cellular shapes and specific mechanical properties. One example is keratin intermediate filaments in epithelial cells, which form thick bundles that can further organize in a crosslinked network. To study the native structure of keratin bundles in whole cells, high-resolution te...

We show the results obtained from the fabrication and characterisation of MgB2 loops with two nano-bridges as superconducting weak links. These ring structures are made to operate as superconducting quantum interference devices and are investigated as readout system for cryogenics NEMS resonators. The nano-constrictions are fabricated by EBL and ion beam milling. The SQUIDs are characterised at...

Use of high numerical aperture focusing with negative longitudinal spherical aberration is shown to enable deep (> microm), high aspect ratio, nano-scale-width holes to be machined into the surface of a fused-silica (SiO(2)) substrate with single pulses from a 200 fs, 4 microJ Ti-Sapphire laser source. The depths of the nano-holes are characterized by use of a non-destructive acetate replicatio...